"Moving and heartfelt. Dr. Birken expresses the physician''s side of the patient relationship with grace and candor."--Craig A. Miller, M.D.

From the Publisher:?Dr. Birken does a superb job in bringing human warmth and humor to an otherwise, clinical profession. His unique approach to revealing the strength and composure of his patients in crisis allows the reader to enter the inner world of doctor and patient, a heretofore revered and confidential one, to become a part of the story. Dr. Birken is a renowned doctor in his own right, but had the courage to seek additional training in the art of creative writing, having obtained a Master of Liberal Arts Degree in Literature twenty years after his M.D. His patient-composite approach is refreshing and avoids many of the pitfalls that occur in other medical accounts of the doctor-patient relationship that usually come across as clinical and perfunctory. His chronological approach, using the woman's lifespan as a guidepost to the myriad of illnesses awaiting an otherwise healthy female medically and psychologically, is both intriguing and inspirational. Dr. Birken has a potential bestseller, and women and men will buy this book if they want an inside look at the ideal doctor-patient relationship at a time when patient trust in organized medicine is lacking. Those who enjoyed Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, will find Dr. Birken's book an equally seminal one on doctoring with humility, humor, and humanness.? A. Keith Barton, Ph.D., psychologist and published author